DRUG AND SAID IT DID NOT HAVE MUCH EFFECT. >> I STARTED OFF HAVING ACHES AND PAINS EVERYWHERE ALL OVER MY BODY. AND THEN SHORTNESS OF BREATH. REPORTER: THAT WAS KENYA ARNOLD WHEN WE CAUGHT UP WITH HER AT THE OPENING OF THE BEL AIR VEIP COVID-19 TESTING FACILITY IN LATE MARCH >> JUST DON’T GIVE UP. REPORTER: THIS IS KENYA NOW DOING MUCH BETTER. ARNOLD HAD BEEN IN AND OUT O THE HOSPITAL STRUGGLING WITH SHORTNESS OF BREATH FR COVID-19. THINGS GOT SO BAD AT ONE POINT , DOCTORS SAID HER HEART STOPPED. >> WHEN THEY WOKE ME UP AND CAM RUSHING IN, TELLING ME YOUR HEART STOPPED, I JUST LOOKED AT THEM LIKE, OK. REPORTER SHE REMEMBERS IN A FOUR-DAY STAY BEING TREATED WI HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE, A MALARIA DRUG APPROVED TO HELP TREAT SYMPTOMS OF COVID-19. PRESIDENT TRUMP SAID HE’S TAKING THE DRUG AS A PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE. >> I THOUGHT THAT MAYBE IT HAD WORKED, BUT APPARENTLY IT DIDN’T WORK BECAUSE I WOUND UP BEING WORSE AFTER BEING RELEASED FROM THE HOSPITAL DONE WHEN I WAS WHEN I WENT TO THE HOSPITA REPORTER: ARNOLD FEELS IT DID NOT WORK FOR HER AND SHE WENT HOME AND A FEW DAYS LATER HAD QUITE A SCARE. >> I JUST WOKE UP THAT MORNING AND COULD NOT BREATHE. I’M SCRAMBLING AND REACHING FOR THE WALLS, ANYTHING I CAN BECAUSE I FELT LIKE I COULDN’T CATCH THE AIR. I THOUGHT IT WAS OVER. >> I THINK THAT THERE ARE NO GOOD DOUBLE-BLIND CONTROLLED STUDIES TO SAY IT IS DOING ANYTHING. REPORTER ER DOCTOR LISA KIRKLAND FROM SINAI HOSPITAL SAYS THE DRUG IS RELATIVELY SAFE WITH FEW SIDE EFFECTS BUT THE JURY IS STILL OUT ON WHETHER IT HELPS OR NOT >> IF YOU ARE A HEALTHY PERSON, IT PROBABLY WILL NOT CAUSE ANY HARM. WHETHER IT WILL DO ANY GOOD, I DON’T KNOW. REPORTER: ARNOLD TELLS US SHE STILL SUFFERS FROM PAIN IN HER LUNGS AND HER DOCTORS SAY IT IS MOST LIKELY SCARRING. SHE ALSO SAID SHE’S PRETTY CONFIDENT ALTHOUGH THEY WERE ENTRUSTED THAT THE REST OF HER FAMILY MEMBERS HAD THE DISEASE AS WEL BUT THEIR SYMPTOMS WERE MUCH MORE MI

Seriously ill COVID-19 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were more likely to die or develop dangerous heart arrhythmias, according to a large observational study published Friday in the medical journal The Lancet.Researchers looked at data from more than 96,000 COVID-19 patients from 671 hospitals. All were hospitalized from late December to mid-April and had died or been discharged by April 21. Just below 15,000 were treated with the antimalarial drugs hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, or one of those drugs combined with an antibiotic.Those treatments were linked with a higher risk of dying in the hospital, the study found. About 1 in 6 patients treated with chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine alone died in the hospital, compared to 1 in 11 patients in the control group.About 1 in 5 patients treated with chloroquine and an antibiotic died and almost 1 in 4 treated with hydroxychloroquine and an antibiotic died."Previous small-scale studies have failed to identify robust evidence of a benefit and larger, randomized controlled trials are not yet completed," Dr. Frank Ruschitzka, director of the Heart Center at University Hospital Zurich and the study's coauthor, said in a statement."However," he said, "we now know from our study that the chance that these medications improve outcomes in COVID-19 is quite low."President Donald Trump has repeatedly touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential coronavirus cure. Earlier this week he claimed he was taking daily doses of it as a prophylaxis to prevent infection.There have been no published studies on the use of the antimalarial drug to prevent COVID-19."A couple of weeks ago, I started taking it," Trump said. He said he started taking it after consulting the White House doctor, though he didn't say his physician had actually recommended the drug.Additionally, the study found serious cardiac arrhythmias were more common among patients who received any of the four treatments. The largest increase was among the group treated with hydroxychloroquine and an an antibiotic — 8% of those patients developed a heart arrhythmia, compared to 0.3% of the control group.

CNN —

Seriously ill COVID-19 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were more likely to die or develop dangerous heart arrhythmias, according to a large observational study published Friday in the medical journal The Lancet.

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Researchers looked at data from more than 96,000 COVID-19 patients from 671 hospitals. All were hospitalized from late December to mid-April and had died or been discharged by April 21. Just below 15,000 were treated with the antimalarial drugs hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, or one of those drugs combined with an antibiotic.

Those treatments were linked with a higher risk of dying in the hospital, the study found. About 1 in 6 patients treated with chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine alone died in the hospital, compared to 1 in 11 patients in the control group.

About 1 in 5 patients treated with chloroquine and an antibiotic died and almost 1 in 4 treated with hydroxychloroquine and an antibiotic died.

"Previous small-scale studies have failed to identify robust evidence of a benefit and larger, randomized controlled trials are not yet completed," Dr. Frank Ruschitzka, director of the Heart Center at University Hospital Zurich and the study's coauthor, said in a statement.

"However," he said, "we now know from our study that the chance that these medications improve outcomes in COVID-19 is quite low."

President Donald Trump has repeatedly touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential coronavirus cure. Earlier this week he claimed he was taking daily doses of it as a prophylaxis to prevent infection.

There have been no published studies on the use of the antimalarial drug to prevent COVID-19.

"A couple of weeks ago, I started taking it," Trump said. He said he started taking it after consulting the White House doctor, though he didn't say his physician had actually recommended the drug.

Additionally, the study found serious cardiac arrhythmias were more common among patients who received any of the four treatments. The largest increase was among the group treated with hydroxychloroquine and an an antibiotic — 8% of those patients developed a heart arrhythmia, compared to 0.3% of the control group.